Three-piece buckle



Patented July 8, 1924.

, UNITED STATES SAMUEL BUCHSBAUM, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

THREE-PIECE BUCKLE.

- Application med Jury i3, 1922. serial N, 574,704.

To all 'whom t mayV concern:

Be it known that I, SAML BCII'SB'AM, a citizen of the Unitedl States, residing at, Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented al certain new and useful Improvement in Three-Piece Buckles,` of which the following isa full, clear, con cise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification. V

My invention relates to belt buckles,1and more particularly to a belt buckle to be usedV with a bathing belt.

a buckle of the above mentioned character which is made of a small number of parts, and which will effectually hold the belt in the water. It is, of course, to be understood that a. belt buckle which is worn in the water is preferably made of the smallest possible number of moving parts, as the effect 'of the water on the material of the buckle at the joints is always more Vorless harmful, no matter of what material the buckle is made.'

The form of buckle embodied in my invention preferably is'madeofthree pieces com' prising a front plate, to which a belt clamp-` ing device for clamping one end of the belt` between the front plate and the clamping device, is pivoted, and a member attached to the opposite end of the belt which is adapted to engage with a suitable aperture in said clamping device to hold the said other end of the belt in engagement with the other end of the belt clamped to the front plate, thus the buckle comprises three parts, the front plate, the clamping member and the member adapted to engage in the opening in the clamping member. Y Y

`The clamping member is so constructed that the means on the other end of the-'belt for engaging with said clamping member is adapted to hold said clamping memberin clamping position, and preferably the front plate is provided with side members which are so spaced that the clamping member engages tightly7 between the same, whereby said clamping member is held in position by the spring pressure of the side flanges. Preferably a pair of lugs are struck inwardly' from said side flanges for holding said clamping member in clamping position. The member engaging with said clamping member, which is secured tothe free end of the belt, isprovided preferably with a T- shaped head portionv which is adapted to enter a correspondingly shaped slot in clamping member, and itis a purpose "of the invention to provide a pair of` interengaging members of the above or similar 'character which are. so formed that the same cannot be assembled or. disassembled without moving the same in a plurality of different directions. In the construction shown in the drawings it is. necessary, in order tofdisengage thel member on the free end ofthe belt from the clamping member, Vto first swing the same out of parallel position with. said clamping member, then move the same Itis a purpose of the invention toprovideV longitudinally ofthe clamping member, and nally move the same laterallyand tilt the same so as to remove one end of the 'T4 shaped headlirst from the slot, after which the remainder. of the member can be readily removed. This result is accomplished by` providing the-Vinterengaging members of. the form referred to above, or of a similar form,l and by providing an .ot in the clamping member'adjacent one end of the slot therein.

Other lobjects and advantages ofthe in'- vention will appear as the description of the accompanying drawings proceeds... Hew-V ever, I desire to have it distinctly understood that Ido not intend tolimit myself to the exact Vdetails yshown or described,` but that VI intend to include as part of my inventionv all such obvious changes and modificationV of parts as would occur to a person skilled in this, art and as would fall within the scope of the claims.

In the drawings: .l Y

Fig. l is a longitudinal sectionalview of .the adjoining end portions of a belt showing my improved belt buckle applied thereto, the same being also shown in` longitudinal section;

.Fig 2 is a. rear face view of the end portion of the belt; and, A Y

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3-3 opposite removed from the slot. p Y Y Referring in detail to the drawings, vin Fig` l is shown a belt having an end por; tion 5 which is adapted to be clampedbetween the front plate 6 and the clamping portion 7 of a belt clamping member 8, which is pivotally mounted between the side flanges 9 of the belt buckle.4 The opposite end 10 of the belt is gripped between the of Fig. 2 showing the head as it isbeing clamping member 11 andthe crossmembe'r, l2 of the claspV 13, thus4 forming a. loop 14' in the freeend of the belt. A loop member 15 is provided which is adapted to have the belt end 10 passed through the opening 16 therein, thus providing interengaging loop portions 14 and 15 in said belt and said member respectively. The member 15 is provided with an endwise extension 16 and a cross piece 17 forming a substantially T- shaped head as shown in Figs. 2 and 8. The member 8 is made of sheet metal. and is of substantially the same width as the distance between the side flanges 9, being preferably of slightly greater width so as to lit snugly between said side iianges. Said member 8 is provided with an offset 18 therein providing a portion 19 extending substantially parallel to the main Ibody portion of the member 8, and offset therefrom, said portion 19 being adapted to engage with the front plate 6 and being adapted to be held in sub- 'stantial engagement with the said front plate by means of the lugs 2O struck inwardly from the side flanges 9, so as to hold said clamping member 8 by a spring pressure Vin belt clamping position.

The member 8 is yalso provided with an opening therein, which is preferably in the form of a substantially T-shaped slot having the transversely extending portion 21 and the longitudinally extending portion 22,

said longitudinally extending portion eX- tending down into the offset portion 18, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The transversehv extending portion 21 is of slightly less width than the cross member 17, as will be clear from Fig.'2, whiler the longitudinally eX- tending portion 22 is of substantially the same width as the neck 16, but the neck 16 is much shorter than the longitudinally extending portion 22 of the slot, thus spacing` the cross portion21 of the slot a considerably greater distance from the oifset 18 than the forward edge 28 of the member 15 from the cross member 17. As a result the parts when in assembled relation will occupy substantially the position shown in Fig. 2, in which the cross member 17 is shown as beingI entirely out of alignment with the opening` 21, it being impossible to move the cross member in alignment with the opening by a move parallel to the member 8, due to the fact that the curved shoulder at 24 on the member 15 will engage with the offset portion 18 of the member 8 preventingmovement of the cross member 17 further to the left in Fig. 2 than the position shown there- In order to move the member 15 to the left in the drawings in Figs. 1 and 2, it is necessary to tilt the same to substantially the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. thus swinging the same around an axis transverse to the buckle. The member 15 beingof thin sheet metal, the rounded shoulder 24 will then be out of engagement with the offset 18 and the cross member can be moved into alignment with the transverse slot'21:"However, in order to disengage the member 17 from the ymember 8, it is necessary to move the member 15 laterally so as to disengage one of the ends 25 of the cross member 17 from the member 8 by a tilting movement, as shown in Fig. 3, after which the other end 25 can be withdrawn and the members will be disengaged. It will thus be seen that three distinct movements are necessary to disengage the two members of the buckle. In the first place, a swinging movement about a transverse axis is necessary, then a longitudinal sliding movement and then a swinging movement about a longitudinal axis together with a transverse sliding movement. The last two movements might possibly be regarded as one movement, as the transverse movement is very slight, but in reality there are four distinct actions necessary. As it is practically impossible that after the belt is properly adjusted the movements referred to could accidentally occur in the proper order, and in view of the fact that the swinging movement about a transverse axis makes it necessary to move the member 15 and the Ibelt end 10 toward the body of the wearer, it is an impossibility that the belt ends will accidentally become disengaged, especially in view of the fact that the member on the free end of the belt helps to hold the clamping member for the opposite end of the belt in clamping position, thus ,preventing disengagement of the end of the belt clamped to the buckle, even though the clamping member is not held in clamping position by means of the side flanges, incase said side flanges should become bent or damaged so as to not properly resiliently engage with said clamping member.

Having thus described my invention what I desire to claim and secure by U. S. Letters Patent is:

1. A device Vof the character described, comprising a front plate, a. member pivotally mounted on said front plate and having gripping means adapted to clamp one end of a belt between itself and said front plate, said member having a free end portion adapted to engage said front plate and means on the other end of said belt detachably engaging said member, whereby the tension on said belt tends to swing said member toward said front plate.

2. A device of the character described, comprising a front plate, a member pivotally mounted on said front plate and having gripping means adapted to clamp one end of a belt between itself and said front plate, said member having a free end portion adapted to engage said front plate and means on the other end of said belt de-` tachably engaging said member, wherebyv the tension on said belt tends to swing said member toward said front plate, said last mentioned means having a head thereon engaging in a slot in said member, the shapes of said head and slot being such that said means must be moved in` a plurality of directions to detach said means from said member.

3. A device of the character described, comprising a front plate having side flanges, a pivoted belt clamping member adapted to clamp one end of a belt between one end of said member and said front plate and means secured to the other end of said belt detachably engaging said clamping member at the other end thereof, and said member being' adapted to be held in belt clamping position by said side flanges.

4. A device of the character described, comprising a front plate having side flanges, a pivoted belt clamping member adapted to clamp one end of a belt between one end of said member and said front plate and means secured to the other end of said belt detachably engaging said clamping member at the other end thereof, said flangesv having projections thereon adapted to hold said clamping member in clamping position.

5. A device of the character described comprising a front plate, a pivoted belt clamping member adapted to clamp one end of a belt against said front plate and having a free end portion adapted to engage said front plate, said member having a slot having a longitudinally7 extending portion and a transversely extending portion, and means secured to the other end of said belt, said means having a head thereon adapted to enter said slot through said transverse portion to detachably engage said clamping member, said head engaging said member in the longitudinally extending portion of said slot when in holding position.

6. A device of the character described comprising a front plate, a pivoted belt clamping member adapted to clamp one end of a belt against said front plate and having a free end portion adapted to engage said front plate, said member having a slot having a longitudinally extending portion and a transversely extending portion, and means secured to the other end of said belt, said means having a head thereon adapted to enter said slot through said transverse portion to detachably engage said clamping member, said head engaging said member in the longitudinally extending portion of said slot when in holding position, said head being longer than the transverse portion of said slot, whereby said means is detachable from said clamping member only by moving the same in a plurality of different directions and about a plurality of different axes.

ping member mounted on said front plate,

said gripping member having an offset end portion adapted to engage said front plate, and providing a shoulder on said gripping member and a headed member on the other end of said belt engaging said shoulder when in holding position. V

8. A device of the character described, comprising a front plate, a pivoted belt gripping member mounted on said front plate, said gripping member having an offset end portion adapted to engage said front plate, and providing a shoulder on said gripping' member, said member having a slot therein comprising a wide portion and a narrow portion, said narrow portion extending into said shoulder, and a headed member on the other end of said belt engaging in said slot and having an enlargement engaging said shoulder when inv hold- .ing position.

9. A device of the comprisingl a front a belt clamping character described plate having' side flanges, member pivoted between said side flanges adjacent one end thereof and adapted to clamp a belt between the same and said front plate, and a headed member secured to the other end of said belt, said member detachably engaging an opening near the other end of said belt clamping member, said clamping member being offset to form a said front plate.

l0. A device of the character described comprising a front plate, a belt clamping member pivoted thereto adjacent one end thereof, said clamping member having a T slot therein at the other `end thereof with the transversely extending portion thereof directed toward the pivot of said clamping member, and a rigid T headed member on the other end of said belt adapted to detachably engage in said slot.

11. A device of the character described comprising a front plate, member pivoted thereto adjacent one end thereof and having an offset at the other end thereof, said clamping member having a T slot therein with the longitudinally extending portion extending into said offset,

and a rigid T headed member on the otherend of said belt adapted gage in said offset.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 27th day of June, A. D. 1922.

SAMUEL BUCHSBAUM.

to detachab-ly enslot and rest against said a belt clamping` box-like portion with 

